Troubleshooting power steering rack and pump

[dentalon]

97 avalon with 68 thousand miles.
2 years ago the rack started leaking from the boot on the driver's side in cold weather. added some seal conditioner and all was fine until this winter.

it started having intermittent dead spots (no assist) when turning.
so i flushed the ps fluid and checked the ps pump belt. found some ps fluid on the pump but the belt and tension are ok.

now it has hard steering always. even when the front wheels are off the ground.

as anyone gone through this already? how can i tell if it's the pump or rack that's causing the problem?

[BMR]

Chances are it's the rack. Very common problem. Although your troubles are cropping up with relatively few miles on it. Usually happens with over 100k miles.

I don't know of a way to diagnose it to determine for certain if it's the rack or the pump. Maybe someone else with chime in that does.

[dentalon]

I blasted the the U joint on the Intermediate Shaft Assembly with silicone and WD-40 and it loosened up dramatically. I still have a rough spot or two but nothing like the super hard steering I had when this all started. I' ll hit it with some more WD-40 after a while and see what happens.

The rack is still leaking a bit on the driver's side but I can live with that.



Update. So far so good. Generous amounts of WD-40 did the trick.